Richie Havens, Deity of Woodstock, Dies at 72

After suffering a heart attack, guitarist and singer Richie Havens died today at the age of 72. A Brooklyn-born product of the Greenwich Village café scene, Havens famously performed selections from “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child,” an antebellum-era spiritual, as part of his Woodstock Festival–opening set in 1969. Per a statement from his representation, the Roots Agency: “His fiery, poignant, soulful singing style has remained unique and ageless since his historic appearance at Woodstock in 1969. For four decades, Havens used his music to convey passionate messages of brotherhood and personal freedom.”

Strangely—darkly—we’ve always thought that Havens’ “Follow,” written, actually, by Jerry Merrick, is probably the only song we know that would be equally appropriate at a wedding and a funeral. It is one of our top five, if not our very favorite, song of all time. It’s haunting and hopeful, plaintive and tender, and listening to it makes it easy to indulge two feelings: sadness that Havens died and such happiness that he existed.